Lenny White
"Venusian Summer"
"Big City"
(Wounded Bird Records)
Here's some exciting news: Wounded Bird Records has re-issued two fusion classics from the mid-seventies, Lenny White's 'Venusian Summer" and "Big City." As the drummer for Chick Corea's Return To Forever during the height of its popularity, Lenny White was given plenty of creative freedom to pursue his solo vision in 1975. Besides being a powerhouse percussionist, White was a creative composer with a number of immensely talented cohorts. While the "Vensuian Summer Suite" was dedicated to the crew of the Starship Enterprise, White's own gang consisted of keyboardists Jimmy Smith, David Sancious and Larry Young, Herbie Hancock's main synthesizer commander Patrick Gleeson, young trumpeter Tom Harrel and guitarists Larry Coryell and Al Dimeola (to name a few).
Mixing edgy funk with his classical leanings and a penchant for jazz-rock fusion, White stepped out of the shadows with ambitious arrangements, inspired ensemble playing and superb production values. The precise nature of tunes like "Chicken Fried Steak" highlighted White's empathy with bassist Doug Rauch (who also worked with Carlos Santana) as well as the crackling guitar work of Doug Rodrigues and Ray Gomez. Indeed, Santana's Latin-rock/jazz influence is pervasive on much of "Venusian Summer." The album's centerpiece, "Prince of The Sea," is a masterful, eleven-minute epic that builds up to a blinding crescendo. Featuring Coryell and Dimeola in a majestic tag-team effort that echoes Santana's collaboration with John McLaughlin on "Love Devotion Surrender," White's "Prince Of The Sea" provides us with one of the more exciting performances in jazz-fusion of the seventies.
White reprised his effort two years later with "Big City," a soulful album that featured the Tower of Power horn section as well as appearances by Herbie Hancock, Brian Auger, bassist Miroslav Vitous, Marcus Miller, Neal Schon (another Santana alumni) and the Mahavishnu Orchestra's Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman. With orchestral and rhythmic interludes bridging his diverse compositions, White allowed for both muscular jazz-funk jamming and restful, symphonic meditations. While "Ritmo Loco" was a short piece dedicated to a slew of Latin percussionists and the driving "Dreams Come And Go Away" was written in memory of Jimi Hendrix, it was the "Enchanted Pool Suite" that was most satisfying to White's fusion fans. A three-part composition that featured Patrick Gleeson's synthesizer as well as a spirited communion between Jan Hammer's keyboard work and Jerry Goodman's expressive violin, "Enchanted Pool Suite" was a nine heavenly minutes of orchestral jazz-funk fusion.
Ending with a rousing two-guitar attack between Neil Schon and Ray Gomez on "And We Meet Again" (which was dedicated to White's old bandleader Miles Davis), "Big City" proved to be as durable and enjoyable as "Venusian Summer."
by Mitch Myers
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.